Why was Akshata Murty speaking at a political conference?

Brut India

With the Tory Party trailing in the opinion polls, Rishi Sunak had a trump card at the Conservative conference: his wife.

Transcript

00:00I'm afraid he does love a good rom-com.

00:02So you'll be relieved to hear that episodes of Emily in Paris

00:06are not informing his outlook on the EU.

00:09Getting together with Rishi almost 20 years ago

00:13was not the easy route.

00:15It meant, in our early days together,

00:18a complicated, long-distance relationship.

00:30I'm not on the agenda for today.

00:45A bit of a surprise edition, shall we say.

00:49And a surprise for my husband, too,

00:52who has no idea what I'm going to say.

00:59When I told our lovely girls, Krishna and Anushka,

01:02about being here today, they were also quite surprised.

01:06But look, the reason why I'm here is really quite simple.

01:11And it's because Rishi and I are each other's best friends.

01:16We're one team.

01:18And I could not imagine being anywhere else

01:22but here today with all of you to show my support to him

01:28and to the party.

01:30As you'd expect, there's been a lot about Rishi in the media,

01:34about who he is, what he likes, what he doesn't like,

01:38what motivates him, and so forth.

01:41Now, some of it is accurate.

01:43I'm afraid he does love a good rom-com.

01:46The cheesier, the better, even.

01:50And some of it is not so true.

01:52So you'll be relieved to hear that episodes of Emily in Paris

01:56are not informing his outlook on the EU.

02:00But in all seriousness, though, as we gather here today

02:05to look to the future of the UK,

02:08I'm so grateful to have this chance to talk to all of you

02:12about the man who is leading us there.

02:14Now, let me start with one word that sums up my husband,

02:18and that is aspiration.

02:21Aspiration runs through his DNA like it does this party's.

02:27Aspiration is what drove his family many years ago

02:31to move to the UK.

02:34And aspiration is what drives Rishi

02:37to build for a better country and a better life

02:40for all our young people to look forward to.

02:43Rishi and I met when we were 24,

02:46when we were both studying abroad in America.

02:50Right from the very beginning,

02:52I was struck by two things about him.

02:55No, not his smart suits or his love for hoodies.

02:58He actually didn't own either back then.

03:01But two much more important things.

03:05His deep love for his home, the United Kingdom,

03:09and his sincere desire to ensure as many people as possible

03:15have a chance to have the opportunities

03:17he was lucky enough to have had.

03:19Getting together with Rishi almost 20 years ago

03:22was not the easy route.

03:25It meant, in our early days together,

03:28a complicated, long-distance relationship.

03:31But let me tell you, on the other hand,

03:34being with Rishi was the easiest decision of my life.

03:38He's fun, he's thoughtful, he's compassionate,

03:43and he has an incredible zest for life.

03:46As you may know, Rishi is the son of a GP

03:49and a pharmacist.

03:50His parents moved to the UK from East Africa with very little.

03:57But they built here a life for themselves

03:59and for their children.

04:01For Rishi's dad, being involved in his patients' lives

04:05beyond the doctor's surgery was a big part

04:08of how he saw his role.

04:10Rishi's mom trained as a pharmacist.

04:12And years later, after saving enough to open her own shop,

04:16she, too, went above and beyond the call of duty

04:20to build deep-rooted relationships

04:22with her customers.

04:23It meant Rishi and his younger brother and sister

04:26grew up in a household entrenched

04:29in their community in Southampton.

04:31And they were wholly devoted to it.

04:34That love of community grew in Rishi, too,

04:38from a very young age as the most natural extension

04:41of how he sees home.

04:44And that connection with people

04:46is the source of his political life.

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